


Always Buy Below Market Value and Other Lessons

by oanja



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M, Space capitalism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-07 12:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4263819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oanja/pseuds/oanja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jupiter is summoned to an Assembly, which sounds as vague as you can expect of something organized by people who own planets and kill billions of people just to stay young.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Always Buy Below Market Value and Other Lessons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jaegermighty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaegermighty/gifts).



> Thank you jaegermighty for great prompts and thank you shes-just-like-the-weather from tumblr and stelliary for the beta, you guys rock!

‘Who let the dogs out’ blares from Jupiter’s cellphone. She has to smile at the silly inside joke, especially because Caine keeps telling her it’s not funny.

Jupiter peels off her rubber glove and swipes to screen to answer. “What’s up?”

“You are being summoned,” Caine answers and Jupiter rolls her eyes.

“I don’t even get a hello first? Summoned where?” she asks and peeks out of the fancy bathroom to make sure her mom isn’t around to eavesdrop. She’s been seeing Caine for a few months now and her family is dying of curiosity. Jupiter’s pretty sure they aren’t going to approve of Caine right away so she’s been delaying the inevitability of them meeting.

Seeing that her mother is nowhere in sight, Jupiter sits on the edge of the tub and waits for Caine to answer.

“It’s the Assembly. All the important Entitled gather each quarter. It’s similar to a board meeting, or perhaps a senate, or both. It’s mostly business deals, but sometimes new alliances are born or things fall apart in gruesome ways. You can never tell in advance,” Caine explains and his voice is faintly amused, the way he gets when he’s explaining things to her.

Like he’s reading her mind Caine says. “You really should have accepted the offer for a proper tutor, I’m just a splice. What I know about the Entitled Assembly is nothing more than what the newscasts tell us common folk, so it’s most likely completely useless."

Jupiter bites her lip as she smiles. “But I wouldn't enjoy those lessons as much as I have with you.” She has a tendency to get distracted by Caine and his earnest if gruff attempts to explain how the universe works. Also it’s much easier to shut him up with a kiss when he becomes too maudlin and she’s sure she wouldn’t want to do that with the official tutor anyway.

“I think you know more than me already, you have all the materials they gave you on tablets,” Caine says.

It’s true enough. She has been reading her way through the laws and conduct they gave her, even though it’s incredibly boring legalese. Making Caine talk to her about what he thinks the ‘verse is like is so much more interesting. Even if his stories tend to be on the gory side, especially when he forgets to treat her as royalty.

“Do I have to go?” Jupiter asks him, skipping his accusation entirely.

“Yes, it’s your first Assembly. If you don’t go it will be seen as weakness and other houses will move against the Abrasax.”

“Would that be so bad?” Jupiter asks, thinking of Titus and Kalique. She’s in no hurry to meet either of them again any time soon.

Caine doesn’t say anything and Jupiter knows he disapproves. She sighs. “Fine. How long will I be gone. I need to come up with an explanation for my family.”

~*~

The travel is almost instantaneous and Jupiter wonders about how it all works for the millionth time. There are so many things she doesn’t understand that sometimes she has to accept that she won’t get answers that will make any sense to her. Unless she decides to take up astrophysics as a hobby.

This time she has the opportunity to actually get her appointed royal guard as nobody tries to kidnap her before she gets through the right bureaucracy. Caine had insisted that she needed more protection than he could provide by himself and Jupiter had agreed; she has no plans of getting kidnapped by any remaining Abrasax or one of their rivals. 

The apartments given to her are as luxurious as anything she saw at Kalique’s planet or on Titus’ ship. She flops down on the bed and even though it doesn’t have the levitating force field active she feels lighter than she should be and her hair tries to float away from its ponytail. She grins at Caine who’s still standing ten feet away, watching her.

“Come on, you heard our guide, there’s hours until the banquet. Join me and I’ll pet your wings,” She’s playing dirty. The wings are still such a marvel to Caine who had thought he’d never get them back, so even the slightest touch along the bones and tendons causes him to shiver under her fingers.

He glares at her, but Jupiter just crooks her finger and bites her lip when Caine starts to walk towards her, shedding layers of clothing on his way. When he climbs onto the bed and straddles her hips, Caine is naked, his skin pale and freckled all over. Jupiters runs her hands down his chest teasingly.

“Sometimes I feel the urge to bite you,” she admits and scratches a spiral on Caine’s stomach with her fingernail. Caine shivers under her touch and she hears the wings flutter restlessly behind his back.

“You can, if you wish to, your majesty,” he says, his voice hoarse, and damn, he knows how to play dirty too. He knows how much she likes to hear him call her that.

“Come down here then,” she urges him and wraps her arms around his neck as he leans down to kiss her. The kiss almost distracts her, but she nips at his bottom lip, making him rumble deep in his throat, so she follows the sound with her mouth, leaving light bites down his neck before giving him a proper bite where his neck and shoulder met.

His whole body jerks, as if electrocuted and a small gasp escapes from his lips. Jupiter pulls away to look him in the eyes, savoring the dazed look she finds in them.

“Want more?” Jupiter asks him, but Caine shakes his head.

“Please, let me taste you, your majesty,” He says and fuck, how is she supposed to say no to that?

No matter how much she likes teasing Caine, she loves the way he eats her out more. Jupiter has never had a lover like Caine before. Someone who actually seems to care more about her pleasure than their own.

He’s unbuttoning her blouse already and his touch is making Jupiter edgy. She’s just about to help Caine take her bra off when there’s a cough from the doorway.

Jupiter jerks up to sitting position, trying to see who has invaded their rooms, but she can’t see anything. Caine’s wings have spread out over her body, shielding her from the intruder.

“I see you got yours back too,” says a voice Jupiter recognizes. Obviously Caine had recognized him even before Stinger spoke, because Caine just snorted.

“Get out, Stinger, we were in the middle of something.”

There’s a laugh from Stinger, “I can see that. Come to the dining room. We need to talk before the first banquet.”

Jupiter has been buttoning up her shirt while Stinger was speaking and she pushes Caine’s wing away from her once she’s decent again.

“This had better be important, Stinger,” she shouts after his retreating back. Stinger is wearing a different kind of uniform than she’d seen on the crew of the Aegis and it makes her frown. Was he not reinstated in the Legion after all?

Caine is sitting on his haunches, unconcerned of his own nakedness and glaring at the doorway Stinger has disappeared through. “It has to be something that threatens your safety, he wouldn’t have bothered us otherwise.”

“Only one way to find out,” Jupiter says to Caine, shrugging. She guesses it would have been too much to ask to get an uneventful trip off planet with fancy dresses that she didn’t have to pay for and luxurious beds to take advantage of with one's winged boyfriend.

Caine does a showy flip off the bed, wings beating the air, but there is something almost sulky in his posture as he goes for his pants and pulls them up with jerky movements. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t bother with a shirt. Jupiter has learned that Caine will take every opportunity not to cover up his wings and it’s not like Jupiter is going to complain about the view.

Stinger is pacing the floor of the common area, his boots echoing metallically against the floor that looks like polished stone. Jupiter curls up in one of the chairs, pulling her legs under herself.

“Am I in danger?” she asks. Jupiter had already felt iffy about this whole thing and the expression on Stinger’s face isn’t making her feel better.

“You are always in danger when you leave Earth, your Majesty,” Stinger says and exchanges a look with Caine.

“I hear a ‘but’ in that,” Jupiter says and plays with a fancy fork on the table and wonders if forks are universal, or if they gave them to this suite just because she’s used to them. She’s pretty sure it’s the latter option.

“The Aegis warned Titus not to show his face here and it looks like he obeyed the order, but we just got word that Kalique’s ship came through the portal.”

Jupiter has mixed feelings about Kalique. She seems like the least abhorrent of the Abrasax clan, but Jupiter can’t stop thinking about her rising from that bath, young again. Or hearing her say she’s 14,000 years old. How many people have died to allow her immortality?

“Do you think she means to do something to me?” Jupiter asks.

Another look passes between the soldiers and Jupiter tries not to begrudge them that familiarity.

“No, I don’t think so. She’s not one for direct action, but she might try something through the official channels, or her connections. These assemblies were created to facilitate all kinds of deals and only a fraction of them end up on official record and even a smaller amount of them are legal,” Stinger explains, making Jupiter sigh.

“I’m not giving up Earth,” Jupiter says and then feels silly. It feels ridiculous to her that she owns a planet. It’s such an absurd notion.

“You did inherit other things besides Earth,” Caine reminds her.

“They can be used to bargain with her, or others, if it comes to that,” Stringer agrees, but is frowning.

“You need a proper advisor, someone who knows about politics and all the shit that goes on in these circles. Caine and I are not qualified,” he adds.

Jupiter shrugs. “I wouldn’t trust anyone they gave me.” She pauses for a moment. “You could get me more of those tablet things to read. About current events, who’s who, stuff like that. I might as well use my time by doing something useful before the Assembly.”

Stinger makes a shallow bow, nods to Caine and leaves. Caine comes to sit next to her, his wings rustling as he settles down.

A servant comes by with more information tablets, but Jupiter finds it hard to concentrate. Her thoughts flick from one thing to the next without pause. The one question she comes back to, again and again, is: what does Kalique want?

~*~

Jupiter had thought the wedding Titus had planned was fancy, but it held no candle to the banquet. Jupiter trails her hand down over her hip, tracing the whorls of diamonds that dot her midnight blue gown. It’s the nicest thing Jupiter has ever worn, but here it looks drab and plain.

Caine is hovering over her shoulder and Jupiter can feel the tension radiating from him.

A man with a terrifyingly high haircut approaches her, with the whitest smile she’s ever seen and bows above her hand. Jupiter smiles at him and tries not to stare at his mouth; are vampire teeth a fashion statement here, or does it say something about his eating habits? Or is he a splice like Caine?

“Good evening, your highness,” the man says and dives right into a long winded speech about how much he’s been looking forward to meeting her ‘again’ and how radiant she looks. Jupiter tries to listen politely, but her eyes keep darting around nervously, trying to catch a glimpse of Kalique.

It doesn’t happen until the actual dinner portion of the evening and by then Jupiter is too tired to be very nervous. Her feet hurt and Jupiter muses that they really should have invented something to stop high heels from feeling like mild torture.

The table where Jupiter is seated is obviously one of the important ones. The dais that elevates it above most of the others would be a dead giveaway already, even if she hadn’t seen most of her tablemates surrounded by a barrier of lackeys and hangers-on all night long.

“Hello dear,” Kalique’s voice is mild and friendly and Jupiter only jumps slightly at hearing it.

Kalique is smiling at her, even as an attendant helps her sit in the seat next to Jupiter. It takes a while for the attendant to arrange Kalique’s extravagant dress around her, but finally she backs off and they are relatively alone.

“Why did you come?” Jupiter asks in a hissed whisper.

Kalique tilts her head quizzically. “I have to be here. I’m now the eldest Abrasax, after all. It would look exceedingly odd if you were the only one of us here.”

Jupiter tries not to think about how Balem had fallen and fails. The room feels suddenly colder and the sound of people chatting is harsh and malevolent.

“I see you understand it, Jupiter. You are just like my mother after all.” Kalique says approvingly and pats Jupiter’s hand.

Jupiter has to fight the urge to pull her hand away and instead smiles woodenly at Kalique. “People think I want to kill you and Titus.”

Kalique nods and looks proud, like Jupiter is her favourite pupil. “Just so. It is understandable with what happened, and people know the Marshals forbade Titus from coming. He’s been encouraging the rumors, of course, as it makes him the sympathetic figure in all of this.”

“And what have you been saying to people?” Jupiter asks. She rewinds all the conversations she had with people earlier tonight, trying to spot clues on how many of the entitled she’d spoken to thought she was a murderer.

Kalique laughs, like the whole thing is the most amusing thing. “I have been encouraging the rumors as well, I need the protection of those assumptions as much as Titus does. After all, they might be true.”

Jupiter frowns at her, “Why would I want to kill you?”

Kalique looks behind Jupiter to Caine and then back at her. “You want us to stop harvesting planets, don’t you? Titus has told me of what you talked about on his ship.”

“Of course I want you to stop; you are killing billions of people! But that doesn’t mean I want to kill you,” Jupiter tries to explain.

Kalique brushes the whole topic aside with an elegant flick of her wrist. “We musn’t talk of such depressing issues at dinner. Where are my manners? Perhaps you would permit me to visit you tomorrow, before the Assembly is called?”

Jupiter nods, even though she feels Caine’s urge to protest in the minute shift of his stance. “Alright, come after breakfast, if that works for you?”

Kalique’s attendant materializes back to Kalique’s side and offers her one of the tablets. She writes something on it with a fine stylus and gives it back. “Of course, Jupiter, I would clear any part of my schedule for you.”

Jupiter doesn’t find the words or the sweet smile at all comforting.

~*~

“She’s more dangerous now, if she truly thinks you want her dead,” Stinger says after Jupiter has finished explaining things to him.

It’s late. Jupiter isn’t sure how late, there are no clocks anywhere and she left her phone on Earth, but way past her bedtime. She interrupts one of those silent communications that seem to pass for conversation between Caine and Stinger. “Can we strategize tomorrow? I’m not sure I can stay awake for this right now.”

Stinger doesn’t look happy, but he bows anyway. “As you wish, but I’m increasing the security around the perimeter. We’re not taking any chances.”

“That’s fine,” Jupiter says, already halfway to the bedroom.

When they get into bed, Jupiter rests her head on Caine’s shoulder and hugs him tightly as he pets her shoulder gently. “Is Stinger part of my guard now?”

“Yes, he’s your guard captain,” Caine says.

“You trust him?” Jupiter asks, already sure of the answer.

“Yes,” Caine says. Jupiter yawns instead of replying. She understands why Stinger had betrayed her before and if Caine thinks it won’t happen again, she trusts him to make that call.

“I was hoping this whole thing would be more like an all expenses paid holiday and not so much like a bad episode of Game of Thrones,” she murmurs, halfway to sleep.

“Does that make you Daenerys?” Caine asks, his voice amused.

“Hold that thought for when we get home, I like the idea. You can be Drogo.” Jupiter laughs a bit at the idea and pinches Caine’s nipple.

Caine kisses her temple and cheekbone before whispering, “Yes, Khaleesi.”

It seems Jupiter is weak to all titles Caine calls her, because they sound like ‘I love you’ to her.

~*~

In the morning Jupiter asks the wardrobe for something plain and simple, and after some negotiating she ends up with something that reminds her of the uniform they had given her on the Aegis.

The thought of Kalique’s impending visit doesn’t ruin Jupiter’s appetite. She has fun making Caine explain all the courses to her and enjoys feeding bits off her plate to him. Insisting he taste whatever she’s having.

Stinger’s appearance makes her sigh and she straightens in her chair to listen to what he’s cooked up.

“Nobody tried to get to your rooms during the night, which is good. Try to find out what she wants from you when she gets here and then stall until the Assembly is over and we can get you back to safety,” Stinger says.

“I’m sure that will be super easy,” Jupiter says.

“I tried to get more information about what she’s been doing since Balem’s death, but she’s been laying low and my sources don’t reach into high enough circles to get anything useful,” Stinger admits.

“I’ll ask her, I promise,” Jupiter says, pushing her plate away with one hand and takes Caine’s hand with the other.

Stinger leaves them and Jupiter climbs on Caine’s lap, burying her nose in his neck. “Why can’t things ever be simple?”

Caine strokes her hair and doesn’t say anything.

“Do you want to come meet my family when we get back to Chicago?” Jupiter asks, surprising herself by how much she suddenly wants that. One less secret to keep from them.

“Yes, if it’s what you want,” Caine answers.

Before she has the chance to say more about it, the doors open in a grand manner and Kalique glides in, bringing with her the smell of spring flowers and the sound of running water. The one thing Jupiter likes about the Entitled is how their fashion is never boring.

Jupiter rises from Caine’s lap and guides Kalique to the sitting area with its lush settees and antigravity fields. They both sit on the more mundane furniture and Caine takes his place guarding Jupiter’s back.

“I see it is true what they say about you and that…Splice,” Kalique says, making Jupiter wonder what she had meant to say before settling for Splice.

“He’s my boyfriend, yes, if that’s what people are saying,” Jupiter says.

Kalique smiles and Jupiter is tempted to smile back. Kalique’s presence always invites that kind of response.

“What can I say to make you believe I don’t want to see you dead?” Jupiter asks her, eager to get this whole thing over with.

“Oh, I’m sure nothing will make me believe that, I’m afraid. I’m too old and cynical for that.” Kalique says and laughs delicately.

Jupiter stares at her. “So what is the point of this meeting then?”

“What I told you about the cloning experiments wasn’t entirely factual,” Kalique says and Jupiter is momentarily thrown off by the change of topic.

She catches on quick though. “Are you saying it could be done then? Without killing entire planets full of people?”

“Yes, and no. We couldn’t do it now, or even in fifty years, but yes, the technology exists. The coverage of the clone plague was exaggerated and encouraged. There was one family who were developing the technology and they were light years ahead of any of us. It was in our favour to ensure they would fail,” Kalique explains so calmly that Jupiter could only gape at her.

Kalique continues. “I have my suspicions of the origin of the plague. The family tried to blame sabotage in their defense and it’s plausible. Not that it saved them. The whole family was wiped and their name forgotten.”

Jupiter leans closer. “They were made to disappear?”

“Yes, completely wiped out and their holdings auctioned off. It happens sometimes.” Kalique says.

“That’s horrible! They just wanted to save lives!” Jupiter protests, horrified and disgusted.

Kalique shrugs. “Not really, they wanted to win, to become more rich and influential. The fact that their method was to produce genetic material without creating sentient beings to host it was a minor detail, a way to cut costs, to make the process faster. Not having to wait aeons for suitable life to develop would have made them the most powerful people in the ‘verse. It could not be allowed. There is a balance between the Entitled after all. We do not want to have a dictator.”

Jupiter slumps in her chair. “I can’t believe this. Well, okay, yes I can. You all care about your own fortunes more than you care about the people you kill to stay young. Can the technology be recreated then? You said so.”

Kalique lifts one delicate shoulder in a half shrug. “Everyone is working on their own version still. It has been agreed that we will launch it in a few centuries. It gives all the families time to liquidate their holdings, prepare for the paradigm shift. Ease the transition without collapsing the existing market value of each family’s estates.”

“What. Do. You. Mean. By. Liquidating?” Jupiter ground out. Her hands are fisted and she can feels her nails dig into her palms.

“I’m sure you know already,” Kalique says.

“Why are you telling me this?” Jupiter asks and tries not to think about how many inhabited planets there must be that are going to be destroyed in a few centuries.

“To show you we can be on the same side. To show you I’m not heartless as you seem to think. Not to mention that you have the right to know as an Abrasax. These are your holdings we are talking about as well.” Kalique’s voice is so even and reasonable that Jupiter is struck mute for a long moment.

Jupiter’s mind is racing. “Does this mean planets are going to be worthless soon? Is that why the entitled would liquidate them in a hurry now? So they can get their money while they can?”

“Yes. It is foolish, of course. Even the Assemblies will be unable to stop people from making stupid decisions. They will flood the market with their versions of RegeneX, lowering prices and as such ruining their fortunes anyway.” Kalique doesn’t seem very sad about the fact, if her smile is anything to go by.

“Could I buy some planets then? Is that possible? To save the people? Could I afford that?” Jupiter asks and looks from Kalique to Caine.

Kalique laughs, obviously surprised and delighted. “Oh, I’m sure you can buy some. Especially ones that are in the low end, planets that wouldn’t normally be harvested for thousands of years yet. It would have to be done gradually and you should start with families who are well on their way to moving to the cloned material. Otherwise they will think you are trying a hostile takeover or some such nonsense.”

Jupiter feels her heartbeat thunder in her ears. Could she really do this? Caine rests his hand on her shoulder and Jupiter covers it with her own to ground herself.

“Will you help me do this? Please, Kalique?” Jupiter asks her.

Kalique smiles at her. “Of course I will. I wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise.”

~*~

By the time the week is over, Jupiter Jones owns seventeen planets with more than 68 billion inhabitants combined. Most of them are ‘trash’ as one Entitled had warned her as she signed the trade with her signet. Planets where the populations were only beginning to build their first societies, starting to cultivate crops or develop language.

Jupiter has seen images and traveled to the planets in hologram form and she feels fiercely protective of all of them.

“I don’t understand you at all, Jupiter Abrasax,” one Entitled says and shakes her head as Jupiter signs a treaty promising never to harvest the planet.

And all through the process, Kalique is there, easing Jupiter into conversations, helping her grease the right palms, charming entitled left and right into giving Jupiter better deals and generally making it harder and harder for Jupiter to distrust her.

When she admits this to Caine he snorts. “She’s only doing this because it helps her. You are spending all your inheritance of this, she is collecting favors from people and making it look like the Abrasax family is working together.”

“I don’t care, she’s still helping me. She didn’t have to,” Jupiter says, clutching the tablet with the details of her latest planet to her chest. She needs to have it archived and secured before she can leave.

Caine can’t dispute that, so instead he guides her through the throng of people towards the right window in the neverending bureaucratic dance they are forced to do after every purchase.

With the final planet registered to her name, Jupiter and Caine make their way to the ship that had transported Jupiter here only a few days before.

Kalique is waiting for Jupiter there, surrounded by her whole entourage, so Jupiter assumes she’s leaving as well. Kalique pulls Jupiter close and kisses her on both cheeks. “I will keep talking to people. The word is spreading that you are willing to buy worthless property. People will be eager to take advantage of you. By the next Assembly Entitled will be banging on your door, eager to get some value out of their holdings.”

Jupiter extracts her hands from Kalique’s hold as gently as she can and smiles at her tentatively. “Thank you for helping me. I was just telling Caine that you didn’t have to. This means so much to me.”

“I know. My mother… well that is of no consequence now. Just know that I am on your side. I want us to be friends,” Kalique says and leaves, before Jupiter has a chance to formulate a response.

“Okay then,” Jupiter mutters to herself.

~*~

They are beamed on top of Aon Center and Jupiter takes a moment to orient herself again. The weather is cool and the wind feels cutting this high up. Caine extends a wing to shield Jupiter from the worst of it. She smiles up at him. “It’s so good to be home.”


End file.
